OK Type junkies, available this month is a new release from Taschen that chronicles the history of man’s quest to communicate with letter forms.

Beginning with our first efforts to communicate with visual signs and drawings, the book “Letter Fountain” is a unique typeface handbook that examines the anatomy of every letter, punctuation mark, and ligature in the alphabet. The book goes into detail cross referencing type designs with important works of art and art movements from the Gutenberg’s invention of moveable type to the digital font revolution of today. Taschen renders impeccable levels of detail and attention to aesthetics, and type styles, including a an in-depth comparison between sans-serif and serif typefaces, an essay about measuring systems and indications, advice about typographic rules, plus a manual for developing digital fonts.

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The book covers over 150 typefaces, their origin, and the characteristics of each, explained in rich visual detail highlighting items like scale, weight, and useful alternatives in dynamic reference tables. The extensive appendix contains a general index, a typeface index featuring more than 300 and, an index of over 250 type designers. There is an exhaustive index of type foundries, a graphical dictionary, and a bibliography for further reading.

Looks pretty awesome if you are into all things type. You can get the book here at the Taschen website.